


And I Could See You Kissing Me

by punk_rock_yuppie



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Aged up Five, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First Kiss, Kissing, Pining, Pre-show, Romance, post-show, semi canon compliant, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-12 07:04:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18006146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punk_rock_yuppie/pseuds/punk_rock_yuppie
Summary: Five and Vanya.Before and after.





	And I Could See You Kissing Me

**Author's Note:**

> the first half of this is 100% headcanon and you can pry it from my cold dead hands; the second half of this is purely indulgent canon divergence, including the comics canon that five cannot age when he returns to his siblings. this is also really built on how five is when we see him in Vanya's apartment, or in the scene before he skips ahead. He just seems so _soft_ for Vanya, I had to follow that mood.
> 
> like all my fics, the latter half takes place at some point when they've all saved the world, blah blah blah.
> 
> big thanks to hannah for beta'ing, as always! 
> 
> enjoy!

“I’m going to do it,” Five says, hushed, as he sits down beside Vanya on the couch. It’s getting late, they should be going to bed soon otherwise dad will throw a fit, but Five needs to talk to _someone_ about this. And, as usual, Vanya is his best choice.

“What? Five, you can’t.” She looks at him with wild, wide eyes. “Dad said—?”

“Screw what dad said, he doesn’t understand. I’m ready.” He gathers energy in his palms and watches time and space ripple around his fingertips. “I’m ready,” he says again.

Vanya gnaws her lower lip nervously. “But what if you get hurt? Or stuck?”

Five shakes his head. “I won’t.” He’s so certain. It’s bone-deep, this feeling. “I’ll come back, and…” He reaches out and lays his hand over hers where it’s holding her latest book open. “I’ll come back, and we’ll go. Together. We’ll see something incredible.”

Vanya ducks and hides her smile. Her hair falls and obscures her face until Five reaches out and pushes it back. “What if…” She starts again.

“Vanya—?”

“Just hear me out,” she urges. For once, her voice is sharp and firm, and Five sits back in surprise. “Just in case you don’t come back, what if we…”

Five waits, but embarrassment seems to quell whatever Vanya was trying to say. Deep in the mansion, a clock strikes on the hour and rings out, tolling ominously. “Spit it out, Vanya,” he hisses. “Before we get caught.”

Vanya looks up at him and breathes out, all in a rush, “What if we kissed?”

Five is only a little ashamed to admit he squeaks. He yanks his hand back from Vanya as if burned, and similarly she tucks her own hands back into her lap. Her book slides to the floor with a quiet _snap_.

“Kiss?” Five repeats.

Vanya shakes her head. Her whole face is a blotchy shade of pink. “Nevermind, forget it, it’s—it’s stupid.” She bends to collect her book before standing and smoothing the wrinkles from her skirt. “I don’t think you should jump,” she tells him. Again, it’s the strongest Five thinks her voice has ever been. Not beaten down or wary, but strong and sure. “You might think you’re ready, but you can’t know that for sure.”

Five doesn’t move as Vanya hurries out of the room and up the stairs. He stays, shaded in streams of moonlight, until he hears the telltale sound of his father starting to roam the halls and check beds. Five clenches his fists tight and transports to his bed, sitting on the edge. It’s only a few minutes later that the door opens, and Reginald sneers at him.

“Lights out, Number Five. You know the rules.”

Five nods and reaches over to turn off his bedside lamp. He even crawls under the covers, even though he’s not in his pajamas yet, and that’s enough for his dad to wander away. He listens as dad makes his rounds before retiring upstairs to his study. Then, only after the footsteps have faded, does Five slip from his bed and teleport to just outside Vanya’s door.

Unlike Allison or Luther or Diego, all who sleep with their door shut tight, Vanya’s is open and inviting. She’s not asleep yet, because she looks up when Five stands in her doorway.

“Can I come in?” He asks.

She nods and sits up. Her eyes are wide again, oh so shocked all the time. Five shuts the door a little behind him for some semblance of privacy and approaches her bed on shaking legs. He sits at the edge, just beside her tucked in waist, and holds out a hand.

Vanya wastes no time linking their fingers. “We’re going to get in trouble.”

“I was thinking about what you said,” Five says instead. “And I think you’re right.”

Vanya’s eyes light up. “You’re not going to try time traveling?”

Five ignores the flare of guilt in his chest. “Not that.”

“Oh.” Realization dawns slowly. _“Oh.”_

Five grins sheepishly. “Yeah.” He laughs, feeling oddly giddy, scared, excited. Too many things to name all hurtling at him at once, bouncing around inside him like a whirlwind. “If...if you still want to.”

Vanya nods so hard her hair bounces around her shoulders. “I do,” she whispers urgently. “I... I saw Allison and Luther the other day.”

Five represses a shudder at the thought. He rolls his eyes. “ _They’re_ the ones who are going to get caught if they aren’t careful.”

Vanya giggles. “How should we…?”

Five shrugs. “Can’t be that hard, right?”

“Right.” Vanya leans in.

Five mirrors her. His legs are shaking and his breathing is rapidly getting out of control, but he’s not backing out now. Vanya’s eyes flutter shut and her lips are pursed. Five can’t bear to close his eyes and instead watches Vanya’s lips twitch, her eyelashes fan over her cheeks.

Then their lips connect, wet and warm and soft. It’s gentle and careful, just lips on lips and nothing more. Vanya sighs into it and Five finally lets his eyes shut. He tilts his head ever so slightly, the way he’s seen in movies, and Vanya turns her head the opposite way. Their lips slot together easier, even smoother than before.

Five can feel the heat of Vanya’s blush burning his own cheeks—or maybe it’s the other way around, he thinks, pulling out of the kiss with a quiet gasp.

Vanya, when she opens her eyes, looks dazed. Five wonders if he looks the same and the embarrassment is almost enough to make him jump back to his room abruptly. Vanya reaches out and lays a hand on his arm.

“Thank you,” she says quietly.

“Yeah,” Five replies, a bit dumbfounded. His heart is hammering in his chest, like it might crawl out of his throat. He’s still shaking all over and feels chilled to the bone, but also like he’s burning up from the inside out. “Thanks,” he repeats back.

Vanya laughs and ducks her head again. “I still don’t think you should time travel.” She squeezes his arm. “But I’ll be waiting.”

Five gives her what he hopes is a stronger smile than he feels. Vanya takes her hand back and sinks back into her bed; Five takes it as his cue to leave and jumps back to his bedroom. He changes into his pajamas with thoughts ablaze. About Vanya, time travel, their stupid fucking father.

Five falls into bed gritting his teeth but has to hide his blush—and his grin—against his pillow as he falls asleep.

**☂☂☂**

Five finds her tucked against the arm of the couch, a book in her lap. It’s such a striking mirror image of the day before he disappeared into the terrible future he found, Five has to check himself. Make sure he’s not reliving the day in some weird deja vu moment. But he knows he’s not, because they aren’t in their uniforms, neither of them are thirteen anymore. Vanya’s hair is shorter now although her expression is just as soft. Five himself is taller with a dusting of stubble along his cheeks—being thirty is _so_ much better than being thirteen.

He’s been thinking about it since they first thought they stopped the apocalypse. They were wrong, in the end, but as Five nursed a margarita with Delores, he’d thought about the kiss with Vanya. He’d thought about it when they traveled back in time, Vanya comatose for most of their adventures. And he’s been thinking about it since they arrived back here, with everything fixed and their lives full of second chances.

He’s not trying to sneak up on her, but she startles when he sits all the same. “Good book?” He asks.

Vanya smiles and dogears the page. “One I’ve read a few dozen times.”

“So an excellent book, then.” Five grins back at her. He wonders if she remembers.

“Yeah.” She tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “What’s up?”

Five opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. This was so much easier in his head; he’s only rehearsed it mentally a dozen times. Hell, he even rehearsed it out loud with Delores sometimes, although he’d only ever admit to that under extreme duress.

Vanya tilts her head curiously. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.” Five looks away to the rumbling fire at the other end of the sitting room. “Do you remember the night before I left?”

A beat of silence. “Of course I do.” Vanya takes his hand and entwines their fingers just as she did that night. “You were my first kiss.”

His ears are hot as he replies, “You were mine.”

“I missed you.” Vanya scoots minutely closer. “So much.” Her hand tightens with his. “I really did think you were gone forever.”

It’s the same heart-to-heart they’ve had before, the same one all the siblings have pretty much had with each other. But this time, it feels different. Maybe it’s being back home, maybe it’s being the right age, but Five’s shaking like he was when he was thirteen and sitting on Vanya’s bed.

“Five,” she speaks so quietly, so gently.

He turns his head and acts without thinking, forces himself deliberately _not_ to think. He catches her in a lopsided kiss since he misses her mouth by half. Vanya grins against his lips, though, and tilts her head to even it out. Her thumb is tracing circles on his skin and when she opens her mouth, a rush of adrenaline pumps through Five’s veins.

He cautiously swipes his tongue across her lower lip and swallows her gasp before pulling back. “I’m sorry,” are the first words out of his mouth, and he cringes.

Vanya lets out a sudden laugh. “Why?”

“For leaving.” It’s important that she knows, he thinks, just how sorry he is. How much he hated being alone there. How the very first person he cried out for, _screamed_ for, was her. He opens his mouth to tell her all this but she simply kisses him again.

“It’s okay,” she says, barely pulling away from the kiss. “You’re here now. _We’re_ here now.”

Five nods, dazed. “Yeah,” he replies.

Vanya’s cheeks are a pretty pink and she smiles sheepishly at him. “We should go to bed, it’s getting late.” She never lets go of his hand as she stands.

They wander upstairs together, shooting each other grins and laughing as they stay close, almost enough to trip over each other’s heels. Their bedrooms are at opposite ends of the hall, and the stop at Vanya’s room first.

For a split second, Five wonders if she’s going to ask him in, and his palms go clammy at the thought. But she doesn’t open the bedroom door and instead turns to face him.

“We’ve got time,” Vanya says, promise in her tone.

Five swallows his thudding heartbeat and nods. He leans in once more, has to lean down a bit now that they’re standing, and they kiss once more. It’s sweet and gentle, everything he craved while he was utterly alone, even with Delores.

The kiss breaks with them both wearing identical grins.

“Goodnight, Five,” Vanya murmurs.

“Goodnight, Vanya.”

He turns sharp on his heel and walks back to his room. He turns back as his hand lands on the doorknob, and Vanya waves from her own doorway.

Five snorts and waves back. There’s a feeling in his gut like disappointment, but it’s warring with giddy elation. Like a horde of butterflies in his gut, and it’s a wonderful and terrible sensation at the same time.

Five changes into his pajamas and falls onto his bed. As he goes, the disappointment fades and another smile graces his face.

Vanya’s right. They’ve got time. All the time in the world to make up for lost chances.

**Author's Note:**

> hit me up on tumblr (punk-rock-yuppie)! always down to talk TUA/kliego/etc things!! i also mod a kliego discord, so if that's your thing, HMU!


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